Omaha daily bee., 1887-05-15
SwINDLINC THE RUSTICS.
Scenes on the jackson Street Horse
Market
CHEATING IN HORSE aflesH.
Traders Who are Sharpcrs ami
Scamps-Their Various schemes
-"DOctoring Up" q
Poor Horse.
Written for The Si.idtv Bee by Aj1r.

rob, ana an outraged people calls for bet.
ter police protection; the confidence man
swindlcs, and his victim ho.ls aloud for
justice. But there is one class of thieves
who work quietly and effectively in this
city, being allowed year in and
year out to practice, unmolested, their
infamous profession of swinding tho
rustics who may happen to drop into
Omaha. They are the horsotradcrs. Their
manner Of conducting business amour is
to nothing more or less than robbery. as
the reader may infer upon perusing this
article. But the robboryis effected 50 qui.
city and so smoothly, that the victim
rarely ever reports the swindle to the po
lice. If, perchancc, some pluckcd inno-
cent does muster up courage enough to
inform the authorities. the swindler cs-
capes aud is nowhere to be found.
This article has no reference to the men
who practice horsc-traoing and selling
honestly. There are number of them
| in the city-despitc the assertion that
when it comes to trading horse, St.
| Paul himself would cheat. And ali such
| need not attempt to wear a cap which
| is not intended to fit them.
The rascally horsetradcrs referred to
may be divided into two classes: First,
| those who live in the city and practice
their business here; and second. the
travelling gypsics who pass through
| Omaha from time to time, spend y few
| days here, end then move on to other
fields. The latter is by far the more dan
| gerous class of horsetradcrs. The gyp-
sizes are sharp, shrewd and unscrupulous,
and they possess powers of eloquence
which are irresistible to the average
granger who has horse to trade.
| jackson street, between Thirteenth
and Fourteenth, is known as the horse
market of the city. Here the traders do
their work. Here many q victim is
| ileeced in manner SO neat and expedi
tious that the most polished confidence
man might learn lesson therefrom.
| Saturdays are the heaviest trading days.
For then the farmers come into town.
But on almost any day there is more or
| less trading going on.
A reporter happened down into that
| locality the other day, in company with
| friend who is well posted on the practices
of these fellows. A horse trader was
| trying to induce a farmer to give him a
| pair of bay ponies for rather doubtful
specimen of horseilesh which he held by
a halter. The horse had Il pair of badly
| lame. The horse trader was Jew, and
| very smooth man at his business.
"By sheminy Moses, my vrend," ho
said to the farmer, "don'd you know wen
you've god snapg III trade you dees
fine. large, elegant horse for dose two
ponies und geef you ten tollars to boot.
Dotyos great pargain. my yrend'. ..,
horse s front legs are crookeder'n bow"
Dots all right, my .vrend," returned
| the horsetradcr, "dond you worry NIT
yourself about dot. Dose legs will pc
straight eef you geef dot horse plendy of
rest. So heflup me Moses, deres noding
| de matter NIT dot hOrse!"
Ihe granger thought r,aS1 moment to or tsG twG'
II reckon m trade ye, stranger. Gimme
the $40 and the horse and the ponies are
| yourn."
The reporter and his friend at this
juncture walked away. There" said
the latter, sis a sample of the way
sucker is heeced when he comes on the
horse market. There is horse that
| got him in exchange for his two ponies
that were worth at least $3.50. That is
the very simplest way these horsetraders
have Of swindling. There are a number
of other schemes they are IN the habit
OF working"
reporter; !.P aer;d .o, 40, =, ,,o,o, ,,,. .,.+
they have of working sucker For
instance; suppose you come into town
with a team of horses that you want $500
for. A, who is horsetrader, comes to
you and asks you what you want for
your horses. You tell him. He
doesn't want to buy them him
self. but he knows b, who has
even up Is. by the way, is another
trader, and his team is worth about $75,
though both horses are fine looking. You
hesitate about making the trade. Just
then q comes along. He Is ostensibly
business man looking for a team Of
horses, but really he. is tho
1hrd .hoks. of bands thi Wt1 tIG of .ns sharks I
him if he knows where he can buy a
good pair of horses. A replies that Is
has good team to sell. Yes says G,
4 know the team. I'd give $3.50 cash for
it, if l thought that would buy it, You,
the farmer whom the three men arc
working, think to yourself We'll, l can
trade my horses for BIS even up, and then
$50 myself You go to Il, make tho
trade, and then take your new team to q.
with the remark that he can have it for
1850. The three sharperS always arrange
it SO that the trade takes place
after 3 O'clock. When you ap-
proach g, he tells you that he
is after banking hours. He tells you to
come around tomorrow and he will buy
the team. Tomorrow dawns, but you
cannot find G. You discover that you
have been swindled and that the team
| on your hands is a worthless Onc."
| "Another scheme these fellows work Is
to trade you q really good animal for
| yours. Then when your back is turned
they prick the nose of your horse so as
to make tho animal bleed, or feed it
something which makes it sick. You
come to the conclusion that you have b
worthless animal on your hands and you
are glad 10 dispose of it for small sum.
| or even give it away"
I'm swapping horse, a hOrsetrader
knows well how to cover up his defects.
/ Old age, which is very undesirable In
| horse, is remedied by ''tixing" up the
teeth In young horse the teeth have
hollow cups In them, which are nearly
| black. When horse grows old, his
teeth become smooth and the black is
worn off The horsetrader remedies all
this by filing the horses teeth SO as to
form the hollow cups, and then using
some chemical which causes them to turn
black. In this way the appearance of a
young horses teeth is very skilfully
counterfeited, There are hundreds
of such tricks practced; 10 deceive
1 lnnk.